by L K Harcourt
‘I would gladly share my cut with you Emma,’ said Dan, ‘because of all of us, you are the most broke and need the extra cash the most.’
At that point Emma, her eyes moist, slipped her hand under the table and gave Dan’s knee a squeeze.
‘I feel that you have the most claim out of the four of us,’ said John to Louise, ‘since we are your guests and would never have come to stay on Wreckers Island without your invitation.
‘Oh look, the important principle,’ said Louise, her voice rising, ‘is that the treasure belongs to us all. It’s certainly no further use to the poor Spanish sailors who drowned in 1780 is it? And Captain Felipe isn’t exactly going to be coming back for it. We are the only people to lay any claim on it. I think it’s great that we’re all arguing that each other deserves the biggest cut rather than trying to grab what we can for ourselves. It shows we’re good people. If my parents get a slice of it too, then lucky them – although they are super rich already so I’m not sure they’ll need it. But we are all friends together, we’re on holiday together and we explored the tunnel together. I want us all to share the proceeds equally.’
That was generous of Louise, since she could have pulled rank as the host and the others warmed to her for it. Louise could be many things, impetuous, arrogant, a show-off, a flirt, a chatterbox, but she was a feisty, good-hearted young woman whose spirit matched those determined green eyes beneath that shock of a fringe.
‘Bear in mind,’ said Dan quietly, noticing that the pub had started to fill up, ‘that the tunnel may be deemed to belong to the Crown Estate – effectively to the Queen. If that is so, then the Crown may be entitled to a significant share of the find.
Louise looked at him in dismay, and after taking a generous swig of her lager, declared, ‘oh that’s too much, we’re not handing half our treasure over to the bloomin’ Queen. She’s even richer than my mum and dad and that’s saying something! Hasn’t she got enough gold and silver without needing to raid our tunnel!’
‘That’s not how it works,’ hissed Dan, annoyed at Louise’s belligerence. ‘Centuries-old finds of gold and silver are deemed to be treasure and have to go before an inquest held by the coroner. He will almost certainly rule that we have to hand it over but that’s good news because the full market value will be paid and we’ll get whatever we’re entitled to – but the Crown may get 50% if deemed to own the tunnel.
‘But we really should bear in mind that all that gold and silver is so valuable, especially with the soaring price of precious metals these days, that if we all get a quarter share of half of it, that will still be equivalent to tens of thousands of pounds each, possibly £100,000 or more.’
‘Yippee,’ shouted Louise. ‘We’re rich!’
‘I still can’t believe it somehow,’ said Emma, ‘it seems unreal to me.’
‘It’s real,’ said Dan, putting his hand into his jacket pocket. He brought out a gold and silver coin from their find earlier that he hadn’t been able to resist taking back, and put them down on the table. They gleamed mysteriously in the soft light.
Unable to resist, Louise grabbed the coins and held them aloft. ‘Treasure!’ she said, ‘real treasure, from 1780 me hearties! Look at these wonderful coins, just look at them. Oh you know, I can’t wait to get back down the tunnel tomorrow to get the rest of it!’
Several people took up Louise’s offer to look at the coins. They were attracting glances from all directions. Fuelled by adrenaline and strong lager, Louise was becoming over-exuberant and indiscreet. At that moment, the barmaid came to take their food order.
‘Goodness me,’ she said. ‘Well now aren’t they pretty looking coins? Wherever did you get those from? I take it you’ll not be paying for your food with them. Why they look like they might be from one of the old treasure ships!’
‘Oh no, they’re just lucky coins I was given by an uncle on my 18th birthday,’ said Dan, lying swiftly and seizing them off Louise. He pushed them securely into the inside pocket of his jacket and glared at her. She was being foolish and making a scene. Dan noticed a number of the regulars looked as though, in a different era, they might well have been smugglers and wreckers themselves. He hoped that the four of them would pass as little more than loud, brash, annoying tourists.
‘Can you have a quiet word with her,’ whispered Dan to Emma. ‘Tell her to calm it down a bit.’
But Louise wasn’t in the mood for listening. Her pint drunk, she got up to go the bar and get another round of drinks in. John went with her, fearing she might struggle to keep four brimming glasses on the tray.
‘You know I’m really fond of Louise but I could swing for her sometimes,’ said Emma to Dan when the others were out of earshot. ‘What a performance she’s putting on tonight. I know we’re all thrilled to bits, but we are actually in an old smugglers’ and wreckers’ pub. Memories go back a long way.’
‘I know,’ said Dan. ‘And what I could see, facing into the pub, is the number of people who looked over when she held those coins up. I can’t believe she did that. I just hope no-one overheard us talking about exactly where the treasure is located.’
‘But there’s only one way to it,’ pointed out Emma, ‘via the outbuilding on the island, and that’s safely locked up.’
‘Yes,’ said Dan, ‘and hopefully we’re safe to assume the other way is safely blocked up.’
‘I’m sure it is,’ said Emma. ‘Oh you know, I am so loving today and tonight, even though Louise is being a pain. I’m so loving sitting here and enjoying this beer knowing that I don’t need to worry about how much it’s cost. I’ve never been able to do that before, you know Dan. And it’s thanks to you. And thank you for being so generous earlier, with what you said about sharing the money with me, that means a lot.’
‘Well Louise was generous about it too,’ said Dan. ‘I think she just felt annoyed with me for jumping in and saying I’d help you out.’
‘Oh look, Louise is annoyed with us both I think, for sitting opposite each other,’ said Emma, with a wry smile. ‘She badly wanted to. She was hoping to . . . no I can’t say!’
‘Oh go on, tell me, she was hoping to do what?’ asked Dan.
Emma, blushing slightly, replied, ‘if she’d sat opposite, she was planning to slip her shoes off and push her foot between my legs. That’s why she was keen that I wore a short skirt tonight. Only I ended up sitting facing you.’
‘Mmmm,’ said Dan, ‘you know something, I would give away at least half of my loot for the chance to do that.’
‘Well you red-blooded little Lothario,’ said Emma, shocked, amused and flattered at the same time. ‘Oh Dan, I had you down for the romantic type.’
‘Yes I am but, I don’t know, knowing what you’ve had with Louise I can’t help but wish it was me, that’s all,’ said Dan.
‘You know something though,’ said Emma, her watery blue eyes gazing into his. ‘She and I have only kissed properly the once. It’s like she lusts after my body and wants me sexually, but she doesn’t seem that interested in kissing and to me, kissing someone you adore is the most romantic, erotic thing you can do. So I’m a bit sad really Dan, that in our moment alone together, you’ve indicated that you’d like to stick your foot in my crotch, but not to kiss me. Is that all I mean to you?’
‘Emma, if you were to close your eyes, I will answer that question,’ said Dan, slightly breathlessly. Emma closed them, and his heart fluttered in his chest.
Dan glanced nervously behind him at the bar. Louise and John seemed deep in conversation. Hesitantly, he took her hands into his and pushed his lips gently against hers, worried that at any moment, she might recoil in anger.
But she didn’t, she made no sign, and she kept her eyes shut. Dan leaned over a little more to bring himself closer. It was tricky with the table in the way. He opened his lips and as he did so, hers opened too and they embraced, tenderly yet passionately, and Emma wrapped her arms tightly around him.
Their first kiss lasted several inc
redible seconds before Dan reluctantly broke free, fearing that John and Louise would be back at any minute. This was, without question, the best day of Dan’s life. He was on holiday, he’d found buried treasure, and he’d got his girl. Could it get any better?
It looked like it just might. Emma, now far more self assured since her fling with Louise, looked him directly in the eyes and said, ‘I think I’d like you to be my boyfriend, Dan.’
‘Are you sure, don’t feel you have to,’ said Dan startled, stumbling over his words and not quite certain what to say.
‘I can tell by the way you kissed me that you love me and do you know something, I love you too Dan, and I think I have done for some while now, I was just slow to realise it. But this holiday has made me understand that you are such a genuine guy and that there are so many nice things about you, that make you such a decent, upstanding person.’
‘But what about Louise?’ replied Dan, taking her hand in his. ‘What about her foot between your legs?’
‘That’s the trouble Dan,’ said Emma, her voice little more than a whisper. ‘There’s more to a relationship than that, but I’m not sure she sees it, at least not with me. You actually want me as a person, that’s the difference.’
‘I’m sorry I said I would also like to do that,’ said Dan, ‘that was crude, I shouldn’t have said it.’
‘It’s ok,’ said Emma. ‘Go ahead if you want, I’d like you to. You are my boyfriend now, after all.’
Dan, hardly able to believe what he was now attempting, took off a shoe and a sock and then lifted his leg in Emma’s direction. Having located her knees, he pushed his foot gently between them. They parted just enough to give him free passage while allowing him also the sensual pleasure of brushing against her thighs. Dan paused for a minute and looked into Emma’s milk-blue eyes. It seemed almost a violation of their blossoming romance to do what he did next, but desire for her drove him on.
He wriggled his foot between her thighs. His toes connected with the silky fabric of her knickers and began gently kneading her vagina, transmitting the exquisite sensation of pressing into that moist softness. As his footwork aroused her, the colour rose in Emma’s usually pale cheeks, her nipples stuck out beneath her tight top and her body twitched.
In the corner of his eye, Dan spotted John and Emma returning from the bar and he withdraw his foot quickly. They carried two pints apiece in their hands and placed them down on the table.
‘Sorry we were so long,’ said John, apologetically, as they took their seats. ‘We were ambushed at one point by a couple of the locals, chatting away to us and asking if we were enjoying our holiday. They were fascinated about our stay in the lighthouse.’
‘Well, I hope you didn’t tell them anything about our discovery today,’ said Dan, trying hard to slip his sock and shoe back on without anyone noticing.
‘Oh no, don’t worry about that, we didn’t say a thing, and in any case, no-one has a clue about getting down that tunnel from the island,’ said Louise, ‘if they did, you can bet your life they would have looted that treasure sometime in the last 230 years. I’m sure it will be safe for another few hours.’
Not for the first time, Dan found himself wincing at Louise. He felt like deploying his foot in her direction this time – in the form of a kick. That was another reckless remark which asked to be overheard. Of course the treasure was safe while no-one knew about it, perhaps it was just waiting 230 years for someone to be foolish enough to blurt out its secret down the local tavern.
Was it Dan’s imagination, or did he catch the eye of one of the locals just then, propping up the wall on the other side of the bar? Did he have a funny look in that eye, something of a glint, or was it just the way the lantern light illuminated his round, unattractive, unshaven face?
Dan was having a fantastic day but he was beginning to yearn for a can of lager from the fridge in the lighthouse kitchen, and for the four of them to gather round the table or sprawl over the sofa in the lounge. Behind the thick round walls of the lighthouse, surrounded on all sides by the sea, they could jump for joy, squawk like pirates’ parrots, flourish gold coins, and swagger around talking in loud voices about buried treasure with impunity. Only the gulls, cormorants and possibly a passing seal would overhear. But it was a different matter in a pub like this where tales of the old days lived on, as did the gene pool of the old-time baddies, reborn as modern-day chancers, opportunists and layabouts. Blabbering on about their find like over-excited children was just plain foolish.
Dan was about to suggest they get off but they could hardly leave with a food order on the way. There was nothing to be done save hope that Louise would start to see sense. It was difficult to rein her in – they were after all, her guests. As for John, he seemed oblivious, as if in some sort of dreamy trance.
Their meals looked too good to waste when they finally arrived, and hopefully that hearty great pie in front of Louise would help impede her ability to talk loudly for at least a few minutes. Dan had ordered scampi and was pleased to find that it was actually freshly cooked.
‘This is delicious,’ he told the others, hoping to steer the conversation towards culinary matters. ‘Home-made and with real tartare sauce served in a bowl rather than a couple of blue sachets.’
‘Mmmm, it does look good Dan, I might pinch one of your little scampi pieces if you’re not careful,’ said Emma, giving him a wink.
‘Ah ha me hearties, pieces of scampi, pieces of scampi,’ squawked Louise loudly.
I wish you were a parrot, groaned Dan inwardly, you’d be less trouble.
But the conversation was about to take a new and different turn which left both treasure and food forgotten about, at least temporarily.
‘Erm everyone,’ said John, glancing at Louise. ‘Erm, Louise and I have got something to announce.’
Dan and Emma looked at them both in surprise.
‘And this is in part, why we took so long at the bar getting the drinks,’ continued John, a little awkwardly, as if about to embark on a long speech. ‘I know this is difficult bearing in mind the erm, friendship between you girls while we’ve been here, but Louise and I have erm, started going out together.’
There was a pause and suddenly, for the first time that evening, the table by the window in the Smugglers Tavern fell silent. Eventually, Louise spoke.
‘I hope you aren’t too mad with me, Emma. What we had was more than friendship and that will always be special to me but while we’ve been here I’ve just been feeling a growing connection with John,’ said Louise, her bright green eyes boring earnestly into Emma’s.
Emma shrugged and looked away. She didn’t know what to say. Part of her felt angry, jealous and hurt but her whole body tingled with the love she had now felt able to express with Dan. And could Louise be accused of using her for a quick fling any more than she could be accused of the same? The two cancelled each other out and left all four of them, frankly, in a better position – finding love among each other which would run deeper than mere lust on the same day that they had found a haul of treasure which could transform their lives. It was clearly the moment for Emma to be open about her and Dan.
‘It’s ok Louise,’ said Emma, eventually. ‘I’m grateful that you have both been honest and upfront. I knew in my heart that your feelings for me didn’t run all that deep because you were never that fussed about kissing me. When you love someone, you kiss them, tenderly, passionately. You never kissed me like that. The thing is Louise, and I’m not saying this to try to score points or draw level with you or anything, but while you were at the bar, Dan kissed me exactly that way. He kissed me with real feeling, and made me realise that he has genuine love for me.’
Louise gasped a little at Emma’s confession. She looked less than pleased to hear it. ‘Ok,’ she said, after a pause, ‘I wasn’t expecting that. So how long has it been going on between you and him? When were you planning to tell me, or have you only blurted it out because I’ve told you about me and John?�
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‘Louise, my relationship with Dan started at exactly the same time as yours with John. You went to the bar, you had your moment together and that’s when you and he both understood each other and it’s the same for me and Dan. We were alone, on what is a very emotional and incredible day for us all, and we talked.
‘Look, you knew that John had feelings for you and I realised Dan had feelings for me. And so the pair of us have both yielded to these wonderful men we have here and responded. We haven’t strung each other along, we’ve been honest with each other. It doesn’t, as you say, take away what we had between us, which I don’t regret and I hope you don’t either, but we’ve got something more besides – and look at them, the pair of them are chuffed to bits! We’ve certainly made them happy!’
Louise glanced first at John and then Dan. A smile slowly crossed her lips. ‘Will you just look at those smug faces,’ she said. ‘You’d think they’d found a fortune in hidden gold and got the girl of their dreams all on the same day!’
The four of them burst out laughing. Louise raised her glass towards Emma. ‘No hard feelings?’
‘Of course not,’ replied Emma. ‘I’m so glad we’ve got it sorted. What a simply amazing, unforgettable day we’ve had.’
‘Let’s get some more drinks in,’ said John, getting up with a smile and a pat of his pockets. It wasn’t his round but he was feeling thrilled, ecstatic and relieved all rolled into one. And the ice-cold lager in the Smugglers’ Tavern was exceptionally good.
‘Yep, one for the tunnel and all who sail in her,’ declared Louise, loudly, who was not getting any more discreet, the drunker and happier she got.
Emma, before she had any more beer, decided a trip to the ladies’ would be a wise move. Louise joined her. As they passed the bar on the way to the corridor outside, one of the locals – a rough, unsavoury-looking chap – gave them a knowing, gap-toothed grin. Louise didn’t notice but Emma did. And as they came out a few minutes later, he accosted them.
